DORDT COLLEGE

About Me

After growing up in Southern California, I obtained degrees in biology, plant science, and plant physiology in several parts of the country before coming to NW Iowa to teach in in 1986.

B.Sc. Biology, Calvin College

M.Sc. Plant Science, U.C. Riverside

Ph.D. Plant Physiology, Virginia Tech

I enjoy teaching a variety of courses in agronomy, soil science, crop protection, and horticulture as well as a senior capstone course. I have maintained diverse interests in agriculture by continuing to visit farms and farmers in seventeen states in the following U.S. regions (Northwest, Southwest, Central, and Southeast.) These courses not only provide foundational concepts and develop a knowledge base, but also challenge students to understand how perspective influences the questions asked and directions taken by a field of study. Similarly students discover how a Christian perspective becomes integral to studying cultures, technologies, and the biotic world. The following are courses which I teach:

Introduction to Plant Sciences

Nature and Properties of Soils

Horticultural Plants

Forage Crop Management

Entomology and Pest Management

Plant Pathology and Weed Science

Field Crop Management

Senior Capstone Seminar

Agriculture Directed Study

Agriculture student teams at Dordt are required to develop a directed research proposal with the help of a faculty mentor. Some examples of student projects which I have mentored include the following:

Evidence for Corn Rootworm Egg-laying in Alfalfa

Investigating the Potential of the Illinois Soil Nitrogen Test as a Management Tool for Corn

Allelopathy of Hazelnuts

Effects of Corn Hybrid and Harvest Moisture on Total Extractable Starch

Effects of a Humic Acid Product (Ignite) on Corn Production

Effect of Compost and Compost Tea on Soil Microbial Respiration of Sterilized Soils

This summer, I will be learning more about the application of UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles; 'drones') and GIS software to agriculture at Dordt College's Agriculture Stewardship Center (ASC).